81% consider the washing machine an appliance they could not live without

Published:13:10Thursday 13 July 2017

Britain has become a nation reliant on appliances, unable to carry out basic tasks without the help of a gadget, according to new research.

A survey of homeowners carried out by leading household appliances retailer, AppliancesDirect.co.uk, as part of its Power On: The Evolution of Appliances report, found that almost half of brits (46 per cent) of Brits would not be able to re-heat food without a gadget to do it for them.

Re-heating food is not the only basic task Brits would struggle with without the help of appliances, as 40 per cent would struggle to make toast without an appliance, despite this only requiring a grill.

And a quarter of Brits (25 per cent) wouldn’t be able to make a cup of tea or coffee – a task that in most cases involves simply boiling water with a pan, without using a kettle.

Almost 1 in 4 confess to not knowing how to wash their clothes without having a washing machine on hand to do most of the work and, shockingly, 1 in 5 wouldn’t know how to dry their clothes without a tumble dryer.

Washing machines (81 per cent) topped the list of appliances British adults confessed they couldn’t live without. Closely followed by dishwashers (36 per cent), toasters (33 per cent) and coffee machines (18 per cent).

Mark Kelly, marketing manager at AppliancesDirect.co.uk, commented: “Appliances have become an integral part of the home and while they definitely make everyday tasks a lot easier, it is amazing to see how many people say they wouldn’t be able to make a cup of tea, or even dry their clothes if their appliance packed in.

“Advances in technology mean household tasks such as cooking are likely to get even simpler. That said, Brits should ensure they know how to do basic things such as boil water and wash their clothes, in case their appliances break or there is a power cut.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, millennials – those aged 18 to 30 years old - many of whom will have grown up with mobile phones and access to the internet, are the generation that would fare worst if they had to do without electrical appliances in their home. Forty per cent wouldn’t know how to make tea or coffee without a kettle while more than half (63 per cent) wouldn’t know how to wash or dry clothes without an appliance to do so.

For more information on AppliancesDirect.co.uk or the Power On: The Evolution of Appliances report visit www.appliancesdirect.co.uk.

Trending

Christie: Business as usual at Aberdeen after McInnes resumes stewardship